Waste disposal apparatus



April 8; 1958 A T. T. WOODSQN WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Fiid Nov. 19, 1956 VIIIIIIIIII I r Ill/11111111 22 INVENTOR.-

"- THOMAS T. wooosom HIS AT ORNEY WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Thomas T. W oodson, La Canada, Califi, assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application November 19, 1956, Serial No. 623,014

Claims. (Cl. 241-1005 become apparent as the following descriptionproceeds,

and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification,

Briefly stated, in accordance with one aspect of my invention there is provided a waste disposer including a generally cylindrical grinding chamber, a rotary grinding member including an impeller mounted for pivotal movement about an axis generally parallel to the axis of the rotary member, and a plurality of passages through the impeller extending from the leading face to the trailing face thereof, whereby water may flow throughas well as over the impeller and a high percentage of waste particles strike the leading face of theimpellen For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the following description and the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevation view, in section, illustrating a waste disposal device incorporating this invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view of the impeller utilized in the structure shown in Fig. 1-.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 33 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is similar to Fig. 3 but shows a modified form of the invention.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown a waste disposal device having a generally cylindrical casing or hopper 1 enclosing the grinding chamber 2 at the bottom of which the grinding or shredding of waste material takes place. The upper end of hopper 1 is provided with means suitable for supporting the device in the drain opening in a sink or the like, the supporting means including, for example, a flanged drain sleeve 3, a clamping ring 4, a sealing washer 5, and clamping bolts 6, all arranged so that the open top of hopper 1 may be supported in alignment with a sink drain opening. Preferably, the drain opening is equipped with a suitabled rain stopper 7, which may be of the type disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,787,423

granted to Fred W. Moore and assigned to the assignee of the present application.

The lower end of hopper 1 is provided with a flange 8 which carries mounting screws 9 for securing a motor housing 10 to the hopper so as to form an integral structure. Mounted within motor housing 10 is an electric motor (not shown) provided with a vertically extending shaft -11 projecting into the chamber 12 defined by the United States Patent O 2,829,841 Patented Apr. 8, 1958 ice upper walls or housing 10. Secured to the bottom of tubular hopper 1 is a generally cylindrical shredding ring 13 provided with a. flange 14 at the top thereof which is clamped between flange 8 of the hopper and the upper end of motor housing 10 so that the shredding ring is stationary with respect to the hopper. Shredding ring 13 is provided with a plurality of shredding projections 15 on its inner surface, a plurality of openings 16 through which the eomminuted material is expelled during grinding operations, and a row of apertures 17 arranged to drain excess water from the comminuting zone. Projections 15, openings 16 and apertures 17 may be conveniently formed by lancing or stamping operations, or by any other suitable means. The arrangement and function of shredding ring 13 are more fully described and claimed in application Serial No. 553,119 filed December 14, 1955 by Herbert J. Macernon and assigned to the assignee of the present application.

In accordance with the present invention I provide a rotary grinding member, generally designated by the numeral 18, fixedly secured to the upper end of motor shaft 11 by means of a fastening screw 19, for example, and provided with impelling means to be described below. Rotary grinding member 19 includes a generally cylindrical flywheel or table 20 having a running clearance with the lower edge portion of shredding ring 13, and a pair of impellers 21 and 22 mounted on flywheel 20 and having pivotal movement about an axis generally parallel to the axis of rotation of motor shaft 11. Impellers 21 and 22 are mounted on opposite sides of the axis of fly: Wheel 20 and are preferably identical, only impeller 21 being described in detail herein. Impeller 21 is adapted to swing freely about pivot pin 22a, and thus to impel waste material against shredding projections 15 and also to cooperate directly with these projections in grinding and cutting waste material in grinding chamber 2.

Referring to Figures 2 and 3 in particular, impeller 21 includes a leading wall portion 23, a trailing wall portion 24, atop wall portion 25 and a bottom wall portion 26. The swinging end of impeller 21 includes outwardly projecting end wall portion 27 and a slightly recessed end Wall portion 28. In operation, impeller 21 cooperates with shredding ring 13, and in particular shredding projections 15 thereon, so as to shred and grind waste material in chamber 2, it being understood that a supply of water is constantly admitted to the chamber during grinding operations. I have found that the mixture of water and waste material in chamber 2 tends to flow up and over impellers of the type described thus far, and in accordance with the present invention 1 have provided means for channeling the water through the swinging end of the impellers so as to trap or retain waste particles in the spaces adjacent the leading edges of the impellers and the adjacent portions of shredding ring 13. By this means the waste particles are acted upon more rapidly and consequently the time required to complete grinding and shredding of waste material is reduced.

In order to achieve a flow pattern in the vicinity of impellers 21 and 22 so as to trap or retain waste particles on the leading wall portions of the impellers, I have provided a plurality of passages 29 each extending through the swinging end of the impeller from separate entrance openings 30 in leading wall portion 23. As shown in the drawing, passages 29 extend rearwardly from entrance openings 30, with respect to the direction of grinding member 18.

It will be observed that passages 29 are tapered so as to define entrance openings 30 in leading wall portion 23 smaller than the exit openings of the passages in the rear wall of the impeller. This tapered passage arrangement minimizes clogging of the passage, and such clogging that they are open on the swinging end of the impeller, as illustrated in the drawing. As an alternative to forming the passages 29 in tapered fashion, the passages may be formed as illustrated in Fig. 4, in which straight wall passages 31 are provided with relatively smaller opening passages 32 in the leading wall portions of the impeller. Impellers 21 and 22 are moved to a radially extended position by centrifugal force during rotation of grinding member 18, and the Waste material and waterin grinding chamber 2 are rotated about the chamber and impelled against shredding ring 13. Passages 29, or passages 31 if the modified form of the invention is used, permit some of the water in the grinding chamber to pass through the impellers and thus waste particles are trapped or retained on the leading wall portion of the impellers rather than flowing upwardly and over the top surface of the impellers. Thus the waste particles are acted upon more rapidly and substantially improved grinding results are obtained.

While I have shown and described two specific embodiments of this invention I do not desire the invention to be limited to the particular constructions shown and de scribed, and I intend by the appended claims to cover all modifications Within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. Waste disposal apparatus for use with a sink having a drain outlet comprising a housing providing'a grinding chamber having at its upper end an inlet opening for water and waste material, mounting means for securing said housing to the sink with said inlet opening in alignment with said drain outlet, shredding members fixedly secured within said chamber, a rotatable grinding member within said grinding chamber mounted for rotation about a vertical axis, an impeller pivotally mounted on said rotary member for movement about an axis generally parallel to the axis of rotation of said rotary member, said impeller being movable to a radially extended position by centrifugal force during rotation of said grinding member and having a leading wall portion adapted to impel water and a plurality of passages extending therethrough from entrance openings in said leading wall portion rearwardly with respect to the direction of rotation of said grinding member.

2. Waste disposal apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the walls of said passages are tapered so as to define entrance openings in said leading wall portion smaller than the exit openings in the rear wall portion of said impeller,

- 3. Waste disposal apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said passages are open on the swinging end of said impeller. v V I 4. Waste disposal apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said entrance openings are smaller than the exit openings of said passages.

5. Waste disposal apparatus for use with a sink having a drain outlet comprising a vertically disposed cylindrical housing having at "its upper'end an inlet opening for water and waste'material, mounting means for securing said housing to the sink with said inlet opening in alignment with said drain outlet, shredding members fixedly secured to the inner surfaces of said housing so as to proiect into said chamber, a rotatable fiat-topped circular flywheel mounted insaid gr-indingchamber for rotation about the axis of said cylindrical housing, a pair of impellers mounted for pivotal movement on said flywheel, each of said impellers being movable to a radially extended position by centrifugal force during rotation of said grinding member and having a :leading wall portion adapted to impel water and waste material around said chamber, and said impeller having a plurality of passages extending therethrough from entrance openings in said leading wall portion rearwardly with respect to the direction of rotation of said grinding member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Williams Dec. 8, 1908 1,803,148 Sheppard Apr. 28, 1931 1,911,718 Saunders May 30, 1933 2,760,730

Jordan e Aug. 28, 1956 

